Sic transit and all that. Forty years ago Dortmund was Germany's top
brewing city. It brewed more beer than anywhere else, had the largest
single brewery and was home to the most popular beer style. How did it
all go so wrong?

Tell me if this sounds familiar. Ill-advised takeovers, panic mergers,
jumping on the pils bandwagon and long-term decline in the region's heavy
industry all played their part in dethroning Dortmund.

Dortmunder Union, Germany's largest brewery in 1965, was one of the forces
behind Brau and Brunnen, a kack-handed - and ultimately disastrous - attempt
to create a national brewery. Their beers have disappeared and the brewery
has been renamed Brinkhoff's.

The Dortmund beer style - Export - has done a good imitation of mild,
going from dominance to obscurity in a generation. It's now easier to
find a Dortmunder in Holland.

The Dortmund Brewing
Industry
When Michael Jackson wrote his "World Guide to Beer" in 1977
the Dortmund's breweries were still an impressive sight. "It is barely
possible to leave the railway station without encountering a cluster of
Dortmund breweries: Dortmunder Actien and Dortmunder Union in Rheinische
Street, the Thier, Hansa, Ritter and Wenker Kronen breweries." he
wrote. His walk would be very different today.

At the beginning of the 20th century Dortmund was an insignificant town
of around 5,000 inhabitants. The breweries it possessed were pub-based
brewhouses producing small quantities of top-fermenting beer. But all
that was soon to change. As Germany began to industrialise Dortmund became
a major centre for the coal and steel industries. The population boomed
and with it breweries to slake the workers' thirst.

In 1842 Kronen was the first Dortmund brewery to swap to bottom fermentation.
The lager they brewed was, as was usual at that time in Germany, a dark
beer in the Münchner style. Throughout the the following 50 years
a series of new, industrial lager breweries were established in the city.
Organised on a similar basis to the city's other industries, they operated
on a far larger scale than had ever been seen in North Germany. The small,
alt-producing brewhouses were swept away.

Dortmund's industrial brewers continued to expand in the 20th century
(though with some interruption from two world wars), peaking in the 1960's.
In 1965 the city's DUB and DAB breweries were the largest in Germany.

As the popularity of Pils soared at the expense of Export, growth slowed,
stagnated or even went into reverse. When, in the 1990's, the German economy
plummetted into recession, the heavy industry of the Rhine/Ruhr was particularly
badly hit. As output fell, Dortmund's breweries looked to mergers for
salvation. Here's what happened.

Seven breweries became two. But that wasn't the end of matters, oh no.
The new millenium was no kinder to German brewing than the previous decade.
As beer consumption falls and over-capacity is rife, even more drastic
consolidation is taking place. The purchase of Brau
& Brunnen (DUB) and Radeberger-Gruppe
(DAB) by Oetker has left both Dortmund's remaining brewers with the same
owner. Which one do you think they'll leave open? The answer is DAB -
it has a greater capacity and a larger site. You can read more about their
plans here
(if you understand German, that is).

The History of Dortmunder
Beer
The classic Dortmund beer style Dortmunder Export has its origins in the
1880's. Before 1842, when Kronen brewed their first dark lager, the local
style had been a variety of Alt.
Dortmunder Adambier was a strong, sourish top-fermenting beer. Wahl
& Henius ("American Handy Book of the Brewing, Malting and Auxiliary
Trades", 1902) has an analysis of the beer performed in 1889. It
was around 18º Balling, 7.38% alc. by weight (9.4% ABV) and a lactic
acid content about half that of a contemporary lambiek.

The new bottom-fermenting beer quickly gained popularity and was the main
product of the industrial breweries founded in the second half of the
19th century.

The first pale lager was brewed by Dortmunder Union (DUB) in 1887. Initially,
the beer was brewed at two strengths Lagerbier and Export. The greater
popularity of the latter led to the dropping of the weaker beer and Dortmunder
Export was born.

It's great to see the classic "brewing mistake" story used to
explain the origin of DUB's first pale lager in 1887. According to their
website, the brewer "accidentally" used pils malt. Total load
of bollocks, if you ask me. What was the malt doing in the brewery if
they weren't going to use it to brew a pale beer? In the 19th century
dark lagers were made from 100% dark malt. As pils malt was quite a bit
more expensive, they must have deliberately bought it to brew a pale lager.
Anyway, only a total idiot wouldn't be able to spot the difference between
pils and münchner malt at a glance.

After WW II, Export dominated the German beer market, accounting for as
much as two thirds of sales. But this dominance was not to last. The meteoric
rise of Pils in the 1970's quickly eroded Export's market share.

Dortmunder Export
Dortmunder Export is a malty, full-bodied beer with restrained hopping
(somewhere between a Helles and a Pils). A bit like a strong West Country
bitter (say Arkell's BBB), but fizzier. Once a gravity of at least 12.5º
would have been the minimum, with an average at around 13º, giving
an alcohol content of 5.2% - 5.5%. Gravities have been dropping over the
last 20 years and now barely reach 12º.

These are the only Dortmunder Exports still brewed in their home city:

Beer

alc

Plato

Bitterness

DAB Export

5%

11.8º

25 EBU.

Hansa Export

5%

12º

Dortmunder Kronen Export

5%

11.8º

25 EBU.

Note that they all come from the same brewery, DAB. DUB (or Brinkhoff's,
as they now prefer to be called) has totally abandonned Export.

Dortmund
Pub Guide

Pub Listings

Thanks to Nick Taylor for providing reports and photographs of several
of the pubs in this guide.

A brewpub on the site of the original home of the Dortmunder
Kronen brewery. The building was destroyed in the war and the architecture
of its replacement "refects the spirit of today", to quote their
website. (Translation: it's a typical modern glass monstrosity.)

It's got the pine-topped tables that you would expect of an old Brauhaus,
but is a little too bland and modern for my taste.

It says much about the waning of Export's fortunes that it's not available
here in one of its first homes. What a bunch of Wenker's.

Here's what Nick Taylor has to say about this pub:

"It is very modern on the corner of the square. Inside
it is decorated with festooned hops that are illuminated everywhere. You
can visit the brewery downstairs. They also do carry outs. I tried a few
on the list and one that isn’t mentioned which was Wenkers Bierbowle,
very strong and dark."

A large restaurant and beer garden in the centre of town.
Not sure of the beers, but it seems to be tied to DAB.

Here's what Nick Taylor has to say about this pub:

"It’s a modern glass fronted bar with seating under
parasols outside. There is a restaurant downstairs and looks very popular.
The beers I had were Hovels, Clarissen, Kronen Alt. bit like sitting in
Ikea but the ale was fine."

"There is outside seating and once inside its very German
with wooden panels and alcoves, very brown and traditional. Bar is to
the rear of the pub. They have upstairs seating on a mezzanine floor.
A novel feature is seating in the disused fire place. Lots of stag's heads
on the walls. They have a beer menu which had on it Clausthaler, Weizenbeir,
Clarissen Alt, Thierpils, Hovels Bitterbeir, Vitamalz and Stades Leicht
which all seem to be on draught. Very good bar."

I've included this fake Australian pub because it serves
a couple of interesting draught beers. At least it makes a change from fake
Irish pubs. It doesn't look that bad inside, being fairly light and and
at least having the traditional pine-topped tables.

The Australian theme is continued in the food, where there's a wide choice
of kangaroo, crocodile and emu dishes.

They have Sky and BBC if you're after somewhere to watch the football.

Rating:

Public transport:

Leeds Pub

Pub. Reinoldistr. 2,
44135 Dortmund. Tel: 0231-551703

Opening hours:

Number of draught beers:

Number of bottled beers:

Regular draught beers:

Food:

I have no further details on this pub, but have included
it for purely personal reasons. Wondering why there's a pub with this name?
Because Leeds and Dortmund are twin towns.